Page 15 of Bully

I was trying to use sexual tension to frazzle him, but my own body temperature rose under his dark stare as I imagined him using Val while he watched me.

Fuck, this was going to backfire. I swallowed and went on, even though he never answered me. “We’re good at what we do here. And with your newtraining,” I said, letting the word hang between us because I still wasn’t convinced we needed training for something most of us had done for years, “your customers will always leave highly satisfied. And when they come back for more, they’ll feel right at home in the dark and seductive rooms I have designed.” I slid my hand across the desk and lifted his metal flip lighter, flicking it against my thigh and lighting it before bringing it toward his face. “Let’s face it. We both know the room colors aren’t for the male customers.” I touched the flame to the end of his cigarette, and he instantly took a drag, burning the cherry tip brightly before releasing a breath of smoke out around it. I snapped the lighter closed with a flick of my wrist and tossed it down on his desk. “The seductive energy in these rooms will arouse the women paid to perform inside of them. And we can probably both agree that a sexually aroused woman will perform far better than an uninterested one will.”

Tamen closed his lips around the cigarette again, inhaling deeply, but still he didn’t speak.

He didn’t have to though, because as I slid off the edge of the desk and walked back over to the stack of folders on the sideboard, the proof of my attention was visible against the zipper of his slacks.

Game on, Tamen Bryce. Good luck winning in a game against a woman who created her entire career around her ability to stroke a man’s ego and leave with his money.

Game fucking on.

Chapter 7 – Tamen

“Iwon’tlietoyou;seniority means nothing anymore. From this point forward, you’re all starting at zero.” I announced, as I paced the stage, surrounded by the women of Prism.

The women who previously worked at The Den, anyway.

They surrounded me. Watching and listening to me as the boss they hated simply because I ruffled the feathers of normalcy. I shook things up.

“I’ve hired twenty-seven new girls to join the lineup here at Prism.” I announced, pointing to the temporary sign hanging by the entrance to the stage room. The threat of competition sparked immediate whispers amongst the women; a hushed, urgent tide of rivalry. “They’re hungry for their share of cash. And they’re willing to do their part to earn it.”

“And we’re not?” A woman spoke up from the crowd, glaring at me defiantly. She had black hair and eyes just as dark to match her all-black outfit. “You act like we’re not the ones who came in here night after night when things were shitty, working our asses off for pennies. Like somehow we’re going to give up now that you’re promising us more.”

“Raven, right?” I paused, facing her head on where she sat below me. I had been studying the employee line up because, as the owner, it was my job to know what each of my staff had to offer the business. And not just of the sexual variety. I wanted to know what they were going to bring to the table to make Prism as successful as possible.

The woman’s dark eyes squinted slightly like she didn’t like me knowing who she was, but nodded once. Or maybe it was because she had spent time with me before, but I didn’t remember her.

“Right,” I continued. “I don’t want any of you to give up, but it will happen.” Stating factually, “By the time the doors open for the grand opening, twenty percent of you will be gone.” I shrugged, sliding one hand into my pocket. “That’s over twenty-five of you, gone. Look around this room and pay attention to the company around you. I bet not a single one of you would pass a lie detector test if I asked you if every person in this room deserved to stay. Or better yet, if you would keep them if you were the boss.” Wide eyes slowly glanced around at each other, silently assessing their counterparts and admitting to themselves that I was right. “Some of you will quit. Some of you will be fired. Some of you will leave kicking and screaming at the injustice of it all. But the facts remain the same, not all of you will survive.”

“And you think fresh blood can survive the actualjob?” Raven countered and more than a few heads nodded in agreement. “More than half of the girls that try this job quit after the first night. Most after the first dick comes their way.”

“I’m aware. Anyone that fails will be replaced.” I acknowledged. “I have a list a hundred names deep of women willing to do anything for a chance.” Turning away from her, I went back to address everyone. “My point is, if you were out shined by someone before, now is your chance to become the object in the way, not the shadow. With that, I’ll leave you to the talent management team I’ve assembled to work with you all. With their help, you’ll establish what exactly your strengths are, and how you can improve where you struggle.”

“Are they going to teach us how to have sex?” A younger girl toward the back piped up and as soon as the words left her mouth, a blush covered her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I just don’t see how a talent company can help us here.”

“What if I told you I only want twenty-five percent of the job to be about actual intercourse?” I asked, and her eyes rounded even bigger, which I didn’t think was possible. The talent team lurked at the edge of the stage, a group of five women who I hoped would earn the respect of my employees so they could actually open up their walls and learn from them. “I don’t want any of you to bank all of your earnings on what’s between your thighs. Believe me when I tell you that high end customers want far more than just penetration from you. They can get that at home from their wives.”

“Then what do they want from us?” The same young girl shook her head in confusion.

I nodded to the talent team, and the owner, Connie, stepped up on stage, taking over. “Attention.” She replied with a sleek smile as she looked at the women. “They want to feel craved for.” With one more glance my way as I backed away, she grinned, “Men want to be coddled and treated like our entire world revolves around them. Which we all know is far from the truth, but we’re going to create the illusion that for the time they’re here, they’re the most desirable men in the world. And in turn, most of them won’t even request sexual satisfaction from the transaction.”

I walked out of the room toward the smaller makeshift meeting space where Ember was working with the new girls.

Sloane.

No matter how many times I tried to use her stage name, as she preferred while we were at Prism, I continued to use her real name in my head.

Or even the nickname I’d given her; Rainbow.

They fit her so much better than Ember, for there was so much more to her than just the glow of her eyes.

Even her rainbow hair no longer felt like the cause of her nickname from me. Everything else about her was colorful and powerful, casting different shades of her personality on me, depending on how she felt at that moment.

I silently entered the meeting space upstairs, where a few of the client rooms had been opened to create larger rooms for hosting group activities.

“You mean we don’t get to pick who we sleep with?” A voice asked from across the room as I hid in the shadows to watch where my Rainbow stood at the head of the group with her arms crossed over her chest.

I’d started relating her moods to the colors dyed in her hair as a distraction to gauge how to interact with her.

---